A wider range of so-called ‘Assistive Technologies’ will be recognised as useful to all learners, including those with disabilities, as a result of an ECS research project.

Dr Mike Wald and E.A. Draffan at the University of Southampton’s School of Electronics and Computer Science’s Learning Societies Lab, and Dr Jane Seale, from the School of Education, have been working on LexDis, a project which was funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) to assess some of the difficulties which arise in e-learning for disabled learners.

As a result of the findings from LexDis, further funding has been awarded to the team by the University of Southampton to continue working with students to explore the difficulties that can arise when working online, including the use of Web 2.0 services and applications.

More than 30 students participated in the LexDis project and fed back their strategies for accessing various technologies.

Some of the key recommendations from the project were:

• Improve and increase the availability of desktop personalisation so that students can log in with their own colour, font and accessibility options. • Increase the level of provision for online materials. This is vital for those who cannot handle paper based materials easily. • Increase the level of awareness for the use of alternative formats on the basis that even the most basic PDFs and PowerPoints can cause problems if they cannot be read on screen with speech output or accessed via the keyboard. • Design and develop learning opportunities and support systems that recognise the significant factors that influence disabled students’ use of technology – notably time.

‘Time is not on the disabled student’s side and indeed time is a real issue for every student, so there is a genuine need to keep technologies as simple as possible,’ said E.A. ‘We found it really useful that the students who took part in the LexDis project came up with new ideas for working with inaccessible resources and were often very innovative in the way they carried out research.

‘It is very important that we understand the difficulties that students encounter. Some of them, for example, have to take a PDF and change it into an alternative format to be able to annotate it or cope with diagrams. The knowledge that we have gained from these students is available on the website with guides and tips. It will also be used to look more in depth at the accessibility of Web 2.0 technologies.’

For further information contact Joyce Lewis; tel.023 8059 5453

Dr Maurits de Planque of the Nano and SENSe research groups in ECS has been awarded funding of over £50,000 to investigate nanoparticles and to begin to develop new ways of determining their safety.

The grant comes from a special fund – Adventures in Research – established by the University of Southampton to help newly appointed staff at the beginning of their research careers. The funding will enable Dr de Planque and joint recipient of the award Dr Philip Williamson of the School of Biological Sciences to use specialized equipment to advance their research.

Nanoparticles are increasingly used to enhance the properties of a wide variety of materials, including consumer products such as sunscreen and cosmetics. They are also being developed for medical applications such as targeted drug delivery.

‘Given their increasing applications, it’s very important to be sure that nanoparticles are totally safe,’ says Dr de Planque.

‘Our current procedures for investigating their safety usually involve adding nanoparticles to cell cultures and monitoring what happens to the cells. However, the complexity of the procedures produces widely varying results, so that both acute toxicity and an absence of any harmful effect have been reported when testing the same substance.’

The researchers aim to look at simplified versions of cells - model membranes - and to compare the effect of nanospheres of different size and surface chemistry.

‘Model membranes are relatively easy to prepare but they mimic the barrier function of a real cell well enough for us to systematically investigate a large set of particles,’ says Dr de Planque. ‘The combined expertise and equipment in ECS and SBS will enable us to study when the nanospheres damage the model cells and when they have no adverse effect.

‘This will help us gain an understanding of how a parameter like nanoparticle size determines cellular interactions, which will aid in the future development of safe nanotechnology.’

For further information contact Joyce Lewis; tel.023 8059 5453

The distinguished journalist Roger Highfield, Editor of New Scientist, will lecture on 'Science and the Media' at the University of Southampton on Wednesday 4 March in a prelude to National Science and Engineering Week.

Roger Highfield is one of the world's leading writers on science and technology. Science Editor of The Daily Telegraph for 20 years, and now Editor of New Scientist, he has played a distinguished role in interpreting and explaining complex scientific developments to the public over a period when science and technology have developed beyond the grasp of lay audiences.

He is widely influential in his field and has broken many of the biggest science stories of recent years. He has strong scientific credentials, having read chemistry at Pembroke College, Oxford, and then continued his studies in a PhD on physical chemistry. As a post-doctoral researcher he also spent a short time in the Chemistry Department at Southampton before deciding to pursue a career in journalism.

The lecture has been organized by the School of Electronics and Computer Science for the Faculty of Engineering, Science, and Mathematics and underlines the University's commitment to ensuring public understanding of its research agenda. It is also a prelude to the University's events for National Science and Engineering Week 2009.

In his lecture Roger Highfield will be considering coverage of science and technology in our media. He will also discuss why particular stories gain coverage and how scientists can themselves play a role in influencing the news agenda.

This lecture is open to the public. All are welcome and no tickets are required. The lecture takes place in The Nightingale Building Lecture Theatre, University Road, Highfield, at 5 pm on Wednesday 4 March.

For further information contact Joyce Lewis; tel.023 8059 5453

The University of Southampton announced this week that five members of ECS academic staff had received promotions.

It was announced that Dr Nic Green, Dr Alex Rogers and dr mc schraefel had been awarded Readerships in the School of Electronics and Computer Science, and Dr Nick Harris and Dr David Millard had been awarded Senior Lectureships.

Dr Nic Green is a member of the School's Nano group and researches particularly in the areas of Bioelectronics and Microfluidics. His research involves the fundamental physics of the interaction of electric fields with microfluidic and biological systems, and the application of the technology to the development of chemical and medical analysis and diagnostic devices.

Dr Alex Rogers is a member of the Intelligence, Agents, Multimedia (IAM) group and is interested in developing and applying agent-based algorithms and mechanisms for the control of decentralised systems; particularly decentralised information systems such as sensor networks. He works with ideas that lie in the intersection of artificial intelligence, data fusion, game theory and microeconomics.

dr mc schraefel is also a member of the Intelligence, Agents, Multimedia group. Her main area of research is interaction and information systems design to support knowledge building in desktop, mobile and increasingly pervasive environments. She is interested in looking at how we can design tools to help connect information on massive information repositories like the Web to make better use of the information that's out there. dr schraefel currents holds a five-year Senior Research Fellowship from the Royal Academy of Engineering.

Dr Nick Harris is a member of the Electronics Systems and Devices research group. His research interests include novel thick-film sensing materials, such as PZT and Terfenol, and associated applications - for example, the combination of silicon micromachining with thick film PZT to make microsystems such as pumps and acoustic separators.

Dr Dave Millard is now Senior Lecturer of Computer Science in the Learning Societies Lab group and is also associated with the IAM group. He has been involved in Hypertext and Web research for over ten years, firstly in the area of Open, Adaptive and Contextual hypermedia and more recently in the area of Web 2.0, Semantic Web, Knowledge and Narrative interfaces, and the impact of Web Literacy on e-learning and m-learning.

See also our academic profile pages.

For further information contact Joyce Lewis; tel. 023 8059 5453

A celebrity chef has been murdered – Who did it? How? and Why? - In an innovative and imaginative event for National Science and Engineering Week, schoolchildren in Southampton will be asked to solve the mystery.

‘Blood on the Kitchen Floor’ takes place at the University of Southampton’s Science and Engineering Day on Saturday 7 March, and has been devised by PhD student Reena Pau of the School of Electronics and Computer Science.

Working with professional actors from the University’s Nuffield Theatre and graduate students in science and engineering, Reena has planned a unique event which enables children to identify the murderer by solving ‘clues’ using technologies including robotics, lasers, DNA, lie detectors, and GPS.

The event begins with the children watching a humorous reconstruction of the events that led up to the murder, which takes place at a celebrity chefs’ competition. ‘The narrative is really funny,’ said Reena ‘but is intended to draw the children into the story and to give them a context for solving each of the clues.

‘As they work their way round the different technologies, analysing DNA samples or using robots to retrieve objects from forbidden places, they will be able to understand the potential and importance of engineering and science technologies.’

The inspiration for the event came from Reena’s work in schools. As part of her PhD project she has been interviewing children and finding out their views on computers and science. ‘I am really committed to ensuring that more girls enter careers in science and technology,’ she said. ‘But many children just don’t understand how technology can be used in the real world. Through merging the theatre and technology in this event we are providing a narrative which they can be part of as they use the technologies to come up with a result at the end.’

Blood on the Kitchen Floor takes place on Saturday 7 March at the University of Southampton’s Highfield Campus.

‘The event serves a dual purpose,’ says Reena. ‘The graduate students taking part have all received training in how to engage children in science. So as well as providing the opportunity to get more children involved and interested, we also have a group of people specially trained to do this.

‘It’s all about getting science out of the classroom and into the real world, where it belongs!’

For further information contact Joyce Lewis; tel.023 8059 5453.

Teams from local schools gathered at the University to bring their robots to life as the competition enters its final stages.

The Student Robotics challenge is a six-month long activity organized for sixth form schools and colleges by a dedicated team of students from the University of Southampton. This is the second year of the competition and its success has encouraged the formation of branches at other universities next year.

Teams who take part in the competition have to design, build and program an autonomous robot to compete against other teams in the finals. The Student Robotics mentors visit each team weekly and help to make this seemingly difficult task accessible and easy to school students in order to promote engineering, technology and science.

On 25 February teams from schools attended an Electronics Day at the University where their got to install the electronics on their robot and wrote some simple program to make them move! The electronics for the robots are designed by Student Robotics to be plug and play, but also to enable the students to be creative and try out their own ideas.

This year's final takes place at the University on 18 April and will be contested by teams from St Anne's School Southampton, Brockenhurst College, Alton College, Peter Symonds College Winchester, and Bedales School.

Student Robotics is sponsored by Motorola and the University of Southampton.

A new institute that will generate a community of researchers prepared to tackle some of the most pressing scientific and engineering challenges of the 21st century will be launched this month.

The Institute for Complex Systems Simulation (ICSS) will launch on Wednesday 18 March at an event that will attract academics, industrialists and students.

The Institute spans a range of science and engineering Schools within the University and involves over 20 industrial and governmental partners. According to Dr Seth Bullock of ECS, Professor Jonathan Essex, and Dr Hans Fangohr, the Institute’s Directors, it will equip its graduates to carry out high-quality, sophisticated simulations in the context of live research challenges. Doctoral students will be trained to combine complex systems ideas with powerful computational tools in order to address challenges within key application domains spanning climate, pharma, biosciences, nanoscience, medical and chemical systems, transport, the environment, engineering and computing.

'We will shortly be seeing, or in some cases are already beginning to see, simulation modelling used to drive the design of new drugs tested on simulated organisms, to shape our response to climate change, to redesign our transport systems, and even to inform exit strategies from wars. The quality of these simulations is becoming crucial,' said Dr Bullock.

'At the moment, when the systems being modelled are increasingly complex, it is hard to know whether to trust some of the simulations that are being built. The ready availability of cheap computational power and the ease with which simulations can be constructed means that we will be seeing more and more of them. Over the next decade, our Institute will help create a generation of doctoral graduates equipped to act as research leaders in building and deploying credible complex systems simulation across a range of disciplines, from nanomachines to global ocean systems.’

The Science Minister, Lord Drayson, on a visit to the University last week also endorsed the Institute: 'Science will help us deal with some of the key challenges we face as a nation and a world,' he said. 'This is a great example of UK research helping to do just that in areas such as climate change, transport and drug design.’

The launch event will be held from 12.30-4pm at the University of Southampton's Nightingale Lecture Theatre (B67, 1027).

To register attendance, please contact: Dr Seth Bullock, Director of ICSS, Tel: 023 8059 5776, email: sgb@ecs.soton.ac.uk.

The £12m Institute is jointly funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the University of Southampton and its partners.

For further information contact Joyce Lewis; tel.023 8059 5453.

Yellow ducks are usually everywhere to be seen in the postgraduate labs of two ECS research groups. But today they are behind bars, being held ransom for Comic Relief.

The mystery of the Lab ducks and their popularity is shrouded in ECS history. But they have become a very visible feature of the research bays of the Intelligence, Agents and Multimedia group and the Learning Societies Lab. Until now they have cohabited very happily with the postgraduate researchers, but yesterday they were taken hostage and are currently being held to ransom until enough money has been contributed to Comic Relief to secure their freedom. Collections are being made throughout ECS.

Today, Friday 13 March, is Red Nose Day and many of the School's students and staff are supporting the event by doing something funny for money!. UPDATE: £258.26 was raised by ransoming the ducks, and from a collection in the Undergraduate Computing Lab, undertaken by Maggie Bond and Heather Doswell.

The School of Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton is a large multidisciplinary and cosmopolitan community. We are committed to upholding diversity and opportunity throughout the School.

For further information contact Joyce Lewis; tel.023 8059 5453.

Speaking at Westminster this week, Professor Sir Tim Berners-Lee warned of the potential dangers if companies are allowed to monitor individuals' searches of the Web.

'We use the internet without a thought that a third party would know what we have just clicked on," Sir Tim said, addressing a meeting of MPs, peers and technology professionals, organized by the All Parliamentary Group on Communications to address online privacy issues. Politicians and legislators are concerned about the potential risks from 'behavioural advertising' where Web users' searches are monitored and shared with companies.

Sir Tim was taking part in the meeting with Professor Dame Wendy Hall and Professor Nigel Shadbolt of the School of Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton. All three ECS professors are also Founder Directors of the Web Science Research Initiative.

Sir Tim said that people revealed very sensitive details about themselves while using the Web and their privacy must be preserved. 'What is at stake is the integrity of the Internet as a communications medium,' he said.

Professor Hall appealed to Parliament to protect internet users’ privacy. 'There are lots of good reasons why companies and government want access to our data but there are huge downsides to that,' she said. 'This debate is about our digital lives. It is about who we are, what we are interested in and what is private to us.'

Issues such as this will be discussed at Europe's first Web Science conference, taking place in Athens next week, from 18 to 20 March. 'Society On-line' is the theme of the conference which will bring together computer scientists and social scientists from around the world.

DATE (Design, Automation and Test in Europe) is a major global event which is set to shape the future of the worldwide electronics industry. Professor Bashir Al-Hashimi of the School of Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton is this year's Conference Programme Chair.

This year's conference, DATE09 has joined forces with ARTEMISIA Association (founded to strengthen Europe's advanced research and technology position in embedded intelligence and systems), which could boost attendance to over 5,000 researchers, engineers, executives and policy-makers from industry, academia and public authorities.

There have been a record number of contributor submissions this year - up to 960, including a 30 per cent increase in papers in industrial applications. The programme consists of 77 technical sessions and over 20 panel discussions, featuring new research findings which will have a significant impact on the future of the electronics industry and academic research.

The conference will offer significant insights into the future of the electronics industry through keynotes by Mike Muller, Chief Technology Officer, ARM, and by 2007 Turing Award winner, Joseph Sifakis, Verimag Laboratory, Grenoble, which will be delivered at the conference opening session. Important topics such as the future of Field-programmable gate array (FPGA), programming of multiprocessor system-on-chip platforms and progress reports on the move to 32 nanometer CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor), will also be debated by leading researchers and developers and industry executives.

A unique feature of DATE is its commitment to linking new research findings to applications. Two conference days have been allocated to this aspect focusing on two major domains: system-on-chip design flows and methods, and multi-core architectures, programming and applications. The two special days will feature industrial panels and executive-level speakers from leading companies in these areas such as Intel, Qualcomm, STMicroelectronics, Texas Instruments, IBM, NXP Semiconductors and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company.

'This is a real indication that the DATE conference is a truly global event and DATE09 promises to be the place for innovation and excellence. It will provide an outlook beyond the current market conditions providing a vibrant meeting place where start-up companies, large system houses and researchers can exchange ideas and promote innovation and growth’, said Professor Bashir Al-Hashimi, who heads the ECS Pervasive Systems Centre. Professor Al-Hashimi has recently been confirmed as the General Chair of DATE11.

DATE09 begins on Monday 20 April with one full day of tutorials and ends on Friday 24 April with eight workshops on current and emerging issues in design, test, EDA (Electronic Design Automation) and software.

It will take place at the Acropolis, Nice, France from 20-24 April 2009.

For further information contact Joyce Lewis; tel.+44(0)23 8059 5453